How long does it take to change your life? According to Mel Robbins, author of The 5 Second Rule, it takes just that, 5 seconds. Doesn’t sound realistic, that’s what it thought first.
I was looking for a new book from Audible to spend my credits. This one book caught my eye as one of the best-selling titles from last year, and it had a ton of raving reviews too. The method itself sounded just too simple to be true, so I had to check it out for myself, and I’m glad I did!
What is the 5-second rule?
The 5 second rule is a method you can apply to any situation in life to change how you act, in 5 seconds. Every single day we face situations where get an instinct of doing something we want to but start to hesitate as soon as our mind takes over and starts coming up with excuses why it’s not a good idea.
If you suffer from anxiety or shyness, I’m sure you are very familiar with this feeling.
It’s the single most harmful thing you do to yourself to stop from making any progress, and it’s not just shy or anxious people, it’s everyone and every day.
It happens when you hit the snooze button in the morning, it happens when you make an excuse to hit the gym today or have that delicious donut even though you’re supposed to be on a healthy diet.
5-second rule is a powerful way to stop yourself from doing that and it goes like this:
“The moment you have an instinct to act on a goal you must count 5-4-3-2-1 and physically move or your brain will stop you.”
It sounds crazy but it works, and I her book Mel explains in detail the huge amount of scientific research that backs this method and why it is so powerful.
She actually found this by accident and shared it in the end of her TED talk almost 7 years ago. After the talk, people who had tried it started emailing Mel about the amazing results they have found too, so she ended up researching the topic more and writing a book about it.
Watch Mel Robbins legendary TED talk
It all started at TEDxSF almost 7 years ago, you can watch the video below.
Want to try the rule for yourself?
Try this small experiment that Mel often recommends this in her talks to try out the rule for yourself and to really see what it feels like when your mind starts to interfere with your intuition to act on your goals.
Tomorrow, when you wake up, set your alarm clock to go off half an hour earlier than usual, when it does attempt to try the rule by counting 5-4-3-2-1 and physically move, meaning get out of the bed, turn off the alarm and start your day.
When the alarm goes off tomorrow, it’s very likely you won’t get up, and instead start thinking reasons not to do it. You’ll see how your mind starts to talk yourself out of it, just remember the rule count down from five and get up!
Try it and let me know in the comments how it went?
Your day is full of moments like this…
When you try the 5-second rule, you will soon realize your day is filled with moments like this and this simple rule can help you make quick decisions that could change the course of your life forever.
The rule works on almost any problem you might be struggling with, including
- Losing weight
- Exercising
- Overcoming shyness or social anxiety
- Become more influential at work
- Be more productive
- Make new contacts in networking events
- Being a better leader to motivate and encourage others
- Improve the relationships with the people you care about
In the book this book, Mel will go through the different ways to apply the rule in everyday situations. You will also learn additional proven tactics for each them that help you make the most impact using the 5-second rule.
You will also hear amazing stories of other people like you, who have applied the 5-second rule to completely turn around their lives.
If you are having doubts that the life you currently lead is not the one you could be capable of, I will highly recommend you to pick up this book and give it a go.
Have you tried audiobooks?
I personally prefer getting my books as audiobooks and use Audible from Amazon. If you have not tried it yet, grab the free trial to get 2 free books and make The 5 Second Rule one of them.
